Census of Manx Speakers

A question about which language was spoken was asked in the 1901,
1911, 1921 and 1931 censuses (there was no census in 1941) - replies
could be English or Manx only or Both. Few were Manx only (in those
fiches I examined for 1901 I did not see any such) thus 'Both' is
taken as indicating knowledge of Manx

Decline in enumerated Manx Speakers

Jackson makes a few comments on this
decline - comments on the 1911 census had been made
in Mannin in 1913; in terms of % of population 1901: 8.1%, 1911 :
4.8% 1921: 1.5%, 1931: 1%. By 1951 it had dropped to 0.5% and no
language question was asked in 1981 (the last native speaker Ned
Maddrell died in 1974); however Nationalistic sentiment, helped by
Manx Government help in funding classes, has raised knowledge of Manx
to around 2% of the population in 2001.

The decline from 1901 to 1911 is close on 50% - however when the
age distribution of claimed Manx speakers is examined there is ground
for suspicion that the figures for 1901 and 1911 are possibly not
consistent and that those for 1901 are probably over-reported.

The sample, made by noting replies on three 3 fiches,
covers about 1 in 8 of the claimed Manx speakers - Rushen
(which included Cregneash) was noted as possibly a
stronghold of Manx, though here the age distribution peaked
in the 60-70 age group whereas that for the Northern
parishes the peak was in the 50-59 group. Assuming that the
aggregate distribution was typical of the Island as a whole
then life expectancy statistics would have indicated a
greater number of Manx speakers in 1911.

There is a suspicion therefore that knowledge of Manx
might have been over reported in 1901.

However the absence of young speakers of Manx is also obvious -
though one 'joke' reply (that of a 1 year old who spoke both) was
noted. One particular response - that of Henry Percy Kelly, President
of Manx Society in 1918 is particularly interesting - born in
Rushen in mid 1870's, both parents claimed Manx but of their children
only he claimed Manx (and in fact won the Manx prize at KWC) thus
confirming Jenner's comment that few
parents were passing on the language..

The 1911 census as reported in Mannin shows more speakers of Manx
under 10 in Douglas than in the rest of the Island combined (11 out
of 19) which possibly reflects the activity of the Manx Language
classes.

Age distribution of enumerated Manx speakers
1911

Offline References

B. Stowell & Diarmuid Ó Breasláin A Short
History of the Manx Language Belfast: An Clochán 1996
(ISBN 1-900286-02-5)

R.L. Thomson "The Manx Language" in A New History of the Isle
of Man Vol 5 - The Modern Period 1830-1999 Liverpool: University
Press 2000 (ISBN 0-85323-726-3) pp312/316